When I was looking at colleges senior year of high school, I quickly realized after touring a few schools that a city school would be the best fit for me. After a year and a half at Boston University, I have never once regretted my choice; it was the location of the school that drew me to it in the first place. There are many reasons why I love the fact that my school is in the heart of a big city.

1. Almost everything is within walking distance

You don’t have to find someone with a car in order to get yourself exciting places. All you have to do is walk outside your dorm and almost everything is a 2 to 40 minute walk. It’s amazing the places I can go with just walking. From my dorm, Copley is a 30 minute walk and Fenway is a ten minute walk. You have to be the type of person who genuinely enjoys walking though in order to appreciate this aspect of the city. But if walking isn’t for you, Ubers are always nearby ready to take you to wherever you need to go.

This is especially true in Boston where there’s at least 4 other colleges within 5 miles of Boston University. More colleges around you means there’s more opportunity to meet people who are your age. A lot of my college friends have met people from other schools through mutual friends and they’ve become their closest friends.

3. Hundreds of food options off campus

Sick of dining hall food? There are hundreds of food options off campus that you can order from. And since it’s a city and not a small college town or in the middle of nowhere, there’s the biggest variety of options to choose from. It’s amazing the amount of good food places you can find that’s a short walk from campus.

4. Concerts!

This is perhaps one of my favorite reasons for going to school in such a big city. A ton of concerts come through every year and the smaller acts tend to go to the small concert venues in Boston where it’s only about $20 to see them perform. I love that I have the opportunity to see tons of artists perform each year and it’s a lot less time consuming since going to a concert at school takes about 3 hours, two hours for the show and one hour for waiting while at home going to a concert basically took up half of my day since I had to factor in an hour to get to the concert and an hour to get home from the concert.

5. City Events

If nothing is happening on campus, I can guarantee you something is happening somewhere nearby. There’s an event happening almost every day in the city and at times I get really frustrated trying to go to all the ones I like since they all happen at the same time. Plus the majority of the events are free, which you’ll really appreciate if you’re like me and almost always broke.

6. Study Spots

While I do have my favorite study spots on campus, I also love studying in cafes and libraries around Boston since it’s a lot calmer being away from the stress of other students who are freaking out over papers and exams.